Alarmed at the Obama administration’s proposed cuts to America’s tsunami warning and preparedness programs, six U.S. senators from California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii on Tuesday demanded the money be put back in the budget.

In a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the six, including California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, said the proposed cuts “jeopardize the safety and economic stability of communities in our states.”

In its proposed 2013 budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Obama administration is seeking to save $4.6 million through two cuts to the tsunami program.

The first would be a $1 million reduction in the roughly $11 million annual budget that funds operations and maintenance for a network of 39 high-tech buoys spread out across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The buoys are tethered to the bottom of the ocean and measure pressure changes, sending data to satellites that tell tsunami warning centers in Alaska and Hawaii whether a tsunami is headed for the United States, along with details about its size and direction.

The other proposed cut is a $3.6 million reduction in the roughly $7.5 million annual budget to fund state grants in coastal states to prepare tsunami evacuation plans, erect warning signs, compile tsunami inundation zone maps and operate public education programs to help coastal communities respond to tsunamis.

The senators’ decision to sign the letter asking Inouye, the chairman of the powerful appropriations committee, to restore the money, makes it likely that the Senate will restore it.

Inouye agrees with them and will work to restore the funding, said his spokesman, Peter Boylan.

“Senator Inouye appreciates the concern and input,” said Boylan. “As someone who represents a state susceptible to tsunamis, he understands the importance and will work hard to provide funding for this program in order to protect the lives and property of our citizens.”

Tsunami experts also praised the political push.

“This is a good thing,” said geophysicist Lori Dengler, chairwoman of the geology department at Humboldt State University. “We aren’t talking about a large amount of money, and we are talking about life safety. We have made such strides over the last five years. But we have to continue to work on it. It requires drills and workshops and exercises.”

In interviews with this newspaper several weeks ago, NOAA officials defended the cuts, saying that the government is trying to save money, and that the buoys would still operate, although they would take longer to repair when broken. Currently, 10 of the 39 buoys are not working, and crews often must sail to remote parts of the ocean — such as near Tonga or the Aleutian Islands — to repair them.

NOAA officials also said that the cuts to the preparedness programs were necessary because funding is scheduled to run out this year on a program Congress and the Bush administration put in place to beef up America’s tsunami system after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed 230,000 people in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

After news reports showed that the countries that were devastated in the 2004 tsunami had no warning system, Congress passed a law in 2006 to increase funding for tsunami buoys, research and preparedness. But that funding, $40 million a year for seven years, runs out Oct. 1.

The Obama administration’s proposal to let many of those programs diminish ran into significant criticism from independent tsunami scientists and emergency response officials in West Coast states, including Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, who sharply questioned NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco about them during a congressional hearing earlier this month.

They proposed cuts come at a politically awkward time — right near the anniversary of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami that killed 19,000 people in Japan and caused a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima reactor.

That earthquake, a magnitude 9.0, was centered in the ocean and sent tsunami surges up to 6 feet high toward the California coast. The surging water caused $58 million of damage in California, sinking dozens of boats, wrecking harbors in Santa Cruz and Crescent City, and killing one man near the Oregon border.

In addition to Boxer and Feinstein, the letter was signed by Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Maria Cantwell of Washington and Daniel Akaka of Hawaii.

“NOAA early warning systems provide critical information to residents and emergency managers so that evacuations and emergency preparations can begin promptly,” the senators’ letter said. “Last March, these early warnings provided first responders with adequate time to reinforce sea walls, sandbag low-lying areas and take other precautionary measures — these measures were effective at minimizing the loss of life and property during this catastrophic event. A similar system in Japan provided residents with a few moments notice before the inundation and is credited with saving thousands of lives.”

Paul Rogers has covered a wide range of issues for The Mercury News since 1989, including water, oceans, energy, logging, parks, endangered species, toxics and climate change. He also works as managing editor of the Science team at KQED, the PBS and NPR station in San Francisco, and has taught science writing at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.